Obama Jobs Bill: Top 10 False And Irresponsible Republican Responses

President Obama delivered a rousing speech outlining his plan, the American Jobs Act, to create jobs for Americans. Knowing any improvement in the economy or in unemployment numbers nets the President a second term, the Republicans are fiercely against his proposal to invest $447 billion — fully paid for — in getting Americans back to work, while repairing this nation’s roads, bridges, and schools.

Most important in this equation, and remember this as you read further, is the revelation — for the second time — from the congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the Stimulus, which Obama implemented when he took office, did work. In fact, “the stimulus raised real gross domestic product by between 0.8 and 2.5 percent, lowered unemployment by 0.5 to 1.6 percent and increased jobs by 1 to 2.9 million.”

So, when you have to lie for your points to sound OK, they’re not.

Here are the top 10 worst, nastiest, most negative and irresponsible responses from Republicans, who clearly are not interested in jobs:

10. Mitch McConnell:

“A debate that was forced upon us by the historic run-up in debt that’s occurred over the past two and a half years as a result of this President’s unprecedented spending,” McConnell said. “Yet here we are, tonight, being asked by this same president to support even more government spending with the assurance that he’ll figure out a way to pay for it later.”

9. Jeb Hensarling:

“By asking the Joint Select Committee to increase the $1.5 trillion target to cover the full cost of his plan, the president is essentially tasking a committee designed to reduce the deficit to pay for yet another round of stimulus.”

8. Eric Cantor:

All I can say is, we are looking forward to trying to see if we can transcend differences, set them aside and try and come together on what we can do to grow the economy and to help people get back to work. That’s why I reject the notion that there is somehow an all-or-nothing approach here, that we have got to accept his package, or somehow he will look to hold us accountable. Again, it’s about results here, and there are plenty of things that we can do to produce results, transcending the differences and trying to stick to where can find commonalities.

7. Rick Perry:

“Like the president’s earlier $800 billion stimulus program, this proposal offers little hope for millions of Americans who have lost jobs on his watch and taxpayers who are rightly concerned that their children will inherit a mountain of debt,” he said. “America needs jobs, smaller government, less spending and a president with the courage to offer more than yet another speech.”

6. Jon Huntsman:

Americans are “tired of President Obama’s empty rhetoric and failed policies; they’re desperately searching for leadership and, above all, results. Tonight’s list of regurgitated half-measures demonstrates that President Obama fundamentally doesn’t understand how to turn our economy around.”

5. Michele Bachmann:

While the President’s speech comes on the heels of a trillion dollars of failed stimulus, bailouts, and temporary gimmicks aimed at creating jobs, the President continued to cling to the idea that government is the solution to creating jobs.

I stand here tonight to say to the President, not only should Congress not pass your plan, I say, “stop; your last plan hasn’t worked, it’s hurting the American economy.” Instead of temporary fixes, do what has proved to work in the past, permanent pro growth policies that are driven by the free market.

Generational theft is a moral and ethical issue, and I care deeply about both the present generation and generations to come.

The President is politically paralyzed and philosophically incapable of doing what needs to be done.

4. Jeff Flake:

“I feel like I’ve just been to the principal’s office. It was equal parts platitudes and scolding. He has given a lot of good speeches in his day but this wasn’t one of them. It was vacuous. You knew what it was, but some of the talk made me scratch my head. Retention of teachers? It was just lines thrown out there for applause from the Left, without any real connection to what we need to do.” Obama, with his sinking polls, Flake says, threw a “Hail Mary,” and missed.

3. Steve King:

“The president said that we can reduce the deficit and pay down the national debt, which isn’t going to happen. That requires a balanced budget. This president didn’t offer a balanced budget. But he said, several times, it will be paid for. But when you listen, well, it’s goint to be paid for out of the conclusion that is drawn from the super-committee, which sets up a cage match between our national defense and our entitlements. We don’t know what it costs either. He didn’t put a price tag on it. [Note: He did. $447 billion.] Whatever it is, he would ask us to come up with those costs and do that within the crunch time of the super-committee. It’s an extremely heavy lift for Congress to come up with something like this. The president has, essentially, done what we say in the Midwest: he’s just tossed a cat into the kennel. Now he’s going to step back and watch the fur fly.”

2. Allen West:

“Did I really need to have a speech for this? You could have given me the American Jobs Act and allowed me to read it and understand it; give it to the CBO, let them evaluate it. Now he’s put the cart before the horse, telling people we need to pass something that none of us have seen. In fact, we knew nothing about this since the speech didn’t come out until 7 p.m. We didn’t have an opportunity to really read and understand these points and proposals.”

“This presidency is absolutely in real trouble,” he concludes. “What I heard at the end was a real sense of desperation. He kept talking about 14 months, we need to do this now, but where was that sense of urgency 34 months ago?”

1. David Vitter:

Stunning. Evryone standing, cheering, reassured, more confident in r future…just by #Saints entering #Lambeau. On 2 recovery–& #SuperBowl!

 

By the way, Nancy Pelosi gets it right:

“In nearly 250 days of being in the Majority, House Republicans have not passed a single piece of legislation to create jobs. The Republican silence on Thursday evening will speak volumes about their lack of commitment to creating jobs.”